The Story of Everything: A Synopsis of The Urantia Book

Paper 77: The Midway Creature

Most inhabited worlds harbor
groups of unique beings who fall into a category between humans and
angels. These midway creatures are valuable helpers and are an essential
order of planetary ministers. On Urantia there are two types: primary
midwayers, whose origin dates back to early Dalamatia, and secondary
midwayers, who came into existence during the days of Adam.

The physical members of the
Prince's staff, though capable of sexual reproduction, had been ordered
not to procreate. It came as a surprise to them when, as the result
of a non-sexual liaison between a male and a female, the first of the
primary midwayers appeared. Upon the discovery that such a creature
could be of great service, permission was granted for each couple to
produce a similar being. Eventually fifty thousand midway creatures
were produced. These midwayers became Caligastia's intelligence corps,
studying and observing the human races. They rendered invaluable service
in the work of influencing human society.

The secondary midwayers also
sprang partially from the Nodite race. The Life Carriers had projected
that the flesh-and-blood staff members would sometime mate with the
best of the Andonites. They planned that resultant offspring would mate
with the first generation of Adam and Eve's children to produce a new
order of teacher-rulers.

It was assumed that the Prince's
staff, having bodies generated by the plasm of the Andonites, would
have children resembling other Andonites. But when the rebel members
of the Prince's staff resorted to sexual reproduction, their offspring
proved to have superior mental, physical, and spiritual capacity. These
children became the ancestors of the magnificent Nodite race, the "mighty
men of old."

After the sinking of Dalamatia,
the Nodites founded the city of Dilmun as their new racial and cultural
headquarters. Gradually the pure-line Nodites intermingled with the
evolutionary races and dispersed to form three great Nodite centers:
The western, or Syrian Nodites, moved north and mated with the Andonites;
the eastern, or Elamite Nodites, settled near Mesopotamia in "the land
of Nod"; and the central Nodites eventually blended with Adamites to
establish the Sumerian culture. A fourth strong Nodite center to the
north was made up of the loyal followers of Van who had established
their center of culture around the shores of Lake Van.

Among the children of Adam
who elected to stay on earth after the default of his parents was Adamson,
the first-born son. Adamson's wife and children had chosen to be transported
to Edentia. When he was 120 years old, Adamson traveled north from the
second Garden in search of the highland home of Van. Here he met a beautiful
woman, Ratta, who claimed to be the last pure-line descendant
of the fallen staff members. Within three months Ratta and Adamson were
married.

Adamson and Ratta had sixty-seven
children and founded a great line of world leaders. Sixteen of these
children were of a unique order, often invisible. Ratta was perturbed
by and even superstitious of these strange children, but Adamson well
knew of the primary midwayers and concluded that these children were
somewhat similar to the original midway creatures. He decided to mate
male and female; their progeny constituted the origin of the secondary
midwayers. The eight sets of male and female children of Ratta and Adamson
lived and died as mortals, but produced 1,984 immortal secondary midway
creatures. Adamson and Ratta had the benefit of these wonderful helpers
throughout their long lives. Adamson lived for 396 years. The culture
he and Ratta founded near the Caspian Sea lasted for almost seven thousand
years.

After the death of Adamson,
the secondary midwayers became disorganized. Over forty thousand primary
midwayers and nine hundred secondary midwayers were influenced by the
philosophy of Lucifer and fell into rebellion against the local universe
government. These midwayers are now in custody, waiting for the final
adjudication of the case against Lucifer.

The United Midwayers of Urantia
currently function as a single corps numbering 10,992. Their motto is:
"What the United Midwayers undertake, the United Midwayers do." They
are able to follow human humor and worship, and enter into the spirit
of mortal work, rest, and play. They do not sleep or procreate.

Primary midwayers are more
like angels than humans. Secondary midwayers are nearer to humans than
angels; they exist just outside the range of mortal vision. They can
make contact with material things, and have power over the things of
time and space. Many acts attributed to angels have been performed by
secondary midwayers.